Oscar Boyd – When Things Get A Little Better
Good tune for the current economic climate… Oscar Boyd’s 1962 ditty When Things Get A Little Better hits all the right notes - with handclaps, backing singers and the kind of groove that gets under your skin. Things are looking up already!
Bobby Marchan – Rockin’ Pneumonia
In 1957, a 23 year old Huey Smith - who’d been cutting records since he was 15 and who played piano for Little Richard’s first band - formed Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns with blues singer Bobby Marchan. The pair signed up with Johnny Vincent at Ace Records. They had a top ten hit with Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu that very year and followed it in ‘58 with Don’t You Just Know It which was also a hit record. This week’s slab of old gold is Bobby Marchan’s 1967 solo version of Rockin’ Pneumonia released on Cameo Parkway in which the words “Boogie Woogie” are replaced with “Boogaloo”. It’s very New Orleans. It’s very, very nice. Enjoy…